Recession, my foot! Lady luck still loves Google

Lady luck may have deserted the whole world. But she still smiles at Google.

Look at the stellar results. Google’s net income for the Q1-08 grew 30 percent, to $1.31 billion, or $4.12 a share, compared with $1 billion, or $3.18 a share, in the first quarter of 2007. Revenue climbed 42 percent, to $5.19 billion, from $3.66 billion a year earlier. The stock price soared to $535.

Excluding commissions paid to advertising partners, a widely followed measure, Google’s revenue was $3.7 billion, slightly higher than analysts expected – a rare occurrence by itself. Its profit, excluding the cost of stock options, was $4.84 a share, handily beating forecasts.

That’s the power of business model. Come inflation or recession, a robust business model could insulate the even the most vulnerable of businesses.

But I like recession for something else. It makes even the smuggest of breeds – marketers – to sit up and revisit their inherent deficiencies. Courtesy Swaminathan of Cequity, I was led to this CMO council study. Quite some candid admissions there. So unusual since CMOs don’t often own up and don’t skip a beat even while flying blind. If something goes wrong, they know it’s the client’s business that crash lands.

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